December 29, 2008
I was on Baby Duty today, so I spent some time listening to Bloggingheads dialogs, including Kerry Howley and Richard Rodriguez:
There's a lot of good stuff in here, but I almost hesitate to post about it, because it's practically guaranteed to bring out the worst sorts of commentary. There's a…
December 29, 2008
This is a much more idiosyncratic sampling than usual, for the simple reason that I bought very little music this year-- probably the least since I started buying my own records. This was a combination of pre-SteelyKid austerity measures (do you know what day care costs these days?), post-SteelyKid…
December 29, 2008
While I realize that you find your eighty-pound Labrador Retriever utterly charming, there are, in fact, other people and dogs who are not enthusiastic about having him galumphing over to try to jump on us. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true.
For this reason, you should have your dog on a leash…
December 28, 2008
nanoscale views: More about insulators
"I've been thinking more about explaining what we mean by "insulators", in light of some of the insightful comments [on the last post]."
(tags: science physics blogs materials condensed-matter)
Cocktail Party Physics: CSI lies and suspicious science
"CSI?…
December 28, 2008
Bora has a post taking issue with the claim made in Slate's blogging guide article that blog posts should be short. At least, I think that was his point-- the post was much too long, and I didn't read it all.
I'm constantly amazed by how evergreen the "how to blog" topic is. It's just not that…
December 27, 2008
nanoscale views: What does it mean for a material to be an "insulator"?
"We broadly lump solids into two groups, those that conduct electricity and those that don't. Materials in the latter category are known as insulators, and it turns out that there are at least three different kinds."
(tags:…
December 25, 2008
SteelyKid says "Glad tidings for all!"
Or, well, something like that. This is an out-take from the Christmas pictures-- it's amazing how hard it is to get a picture of a four-month-old in which she is both upright and smiling.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, or at least won't be…
December 24, 2008
I haven't sent it off to my editor yet-- I need to look it over one more time to see if there are horrible mistakes anywhere-- but I'm officially declaring the third draft of the book-in-progress to be complete. It clocks in at 61,518 words, and 240 pages. That's 50% more words than the contract…
December 23, 2008
What with one thing and another, I didn't watch this week's Bloggingheads Science Saturday-- Kate's parents were visiting, and then there was the Snowpocalypse, and I have book edits to finish, and I don't enjoy the John Horgan/ George Johnson pairing all that much. Apparently, I really missed out…
December 22, 2008
The Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media » Far from the Peer-Reviewed Journal,Scientists Confront How-Tos of Op-Eds
"So how can scientists strategically convey their messages to a broad audience without losing the nuances of their field? "
(tags: science politics writing journalism)…
December 22, 2008
I was up late watching my Giants play the Carolina Panthers (they won in OT-- now you see the importance of Brandon Jacobs), and today is a Baby Day, so I have no deep thoughts to blog. So here are some quick comments on recent reading:
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson. This is the concluding…
December 21, 2008
Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / How to talk to writers
"Writers are people, and they were people before they were writers. They change light bulbs and buy groceries just like everyone else. Really. Because they're people, they vary. Some of them are jerks, but many of them…
December 21, 2008
Steve Po-Chedley, a recent Union graduate and physics major, is spending the better part of a year in Uganda, as part of a new program set up by the college. As part of the program, he's maintaining a blog, and recently posted some reflections on his work to date. The most interesting part is where…
December 21, 2008
A minor but extremely annoying language peeve:
The straps that one uses to steer horses are called reins.
The period of time during which some sort of ruler holds authority is a reign.
Thus, when one wishes to reassert control over something that is running unchecked, one would "rein it in." The…
December 20, 2008
Sciencewomen : Thoughts on my AGU experience
Don't tell my university administrators, but sharing my latest science results is only a tiny fraction of the reason to go to a conference like AGU. Even hearing the latest and greatest science is not the entire reason. This is a lesson that is taking…
December 20, 2008
I've complained previously about the idiotic positioning of the radio antenna on my car, which has nearly cost me an eye a couple of times, when I needed to hack ice off the windshield. Today brought up another example of really small design flaws that make a big difference.
Last night's storm…
December 20, 2008
I've said a number of harsh things here about the bad attitude of people who consider themselve Intellectuals toward math and science. After reading this New Yorker discussion about a Young Adult novel, I may need to change my stance a bit.
It's not that they're better than expected when it comes…
December 19, 2008
EzraKlein Archive | The American Prospect
It's possible there are other solutions than EFCA. But it needs to be solved, one way or the other. EFCA has its problems, but pretending that it's somehow a perversion of workplace democracy as compared to a world in which 25 percent of organizing…
December 19, 2008
...to answer a two-minute web survey asking about what scientific issues are most important to you. The blurb announcing it is:
What topics in science, engineering, and medicine matter most to you? The National Academies are interested in developing useful and engaging print and web-based…
December 19, 2008
Nobody officially "tagged" me for this, but I saw it at Easily Distracted, and it seems like a good post topic for the Friday before Christmas. The idea is to pick one movie title for each letter of the alphabet.
The list below the fold is not an attempt to come up with Great Films for each letter…
December 19, 2008
When I saw ZapperZ's post about this paper (arxiv version, expensive journal version) from the group of Serge Haroche in Paris, I thought it might be something I would need to incorporate into Chapter 5 of the book-in-progress. Happily, it's much too technical to require extensive re-writing.…
December 18, 2008
The Art of SATergy - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
"Consider the following question for the GMAT (the test given to MBA applicants). Unfortunately, issues of copyright clearance have prevented us from reproducing the question, but that shouldn't stop us. "
(tags: science education academia…
December 18, 2008
Past Baby Blogging entries may have created the impression that SteelyKid does nothing but lie in her back in her crib. Quite the contrary-- here's a picture of her in one of her favorite activities, shaking the hanging animal toys in her play gym. The traditional Appa-for-scale is in the…
December 18, 2008
The US Chamber of Commerce has a education website, which provides "grades" for states based on various measures of their educational performance. One category is "Academic Achievement," based on the percentages of students scoring at or above grade level on the NAEP test. Another is "Rigor of…
December 17, 2008
Barack Obama Defeats Barack Hussein Obama | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
"Though few had heard of the freedom-hating extremist before, Barack Hussein Obama quickly garnered attention in several key regions of the country, and saw his popularity buoyed by conservative talk-radio hosts…
December 17, 2008
Over at Cosmic Variance, Sean has a nice, concise post about what's wrong with college football. He's responding to a desperately stupid post that ends with this:
Let's not ruin college football's fabulous 13 week do-or-die regular season with a playoff!
This was posted back in October, so the…
December 17, 2008
Steve Hsu has a nice post on teaching, following up on the Malcolm Gladwell piece that everyone is talking about. Steve took the time to track down the Brookings Institute report mentioned in the piece, and highlights two graphs:
The top figure shows that certification has no impact on teaching…
December 16, 2008
Confessions of a Community College Dean: "It's Just a Job" vs. "We're All in This Together"
"[T]here's been a fascinating exchange in blogland between Tenured Radical and Dr. Crazy. Both addressed the ways that budget issues are being discussed at their respective colleges. Stipulating upfront…
December 16, 2008
Via Tom, my go-to source for this sort of nonsense, the Benny Hillifier, which will add "Yackity Sax" to any YouTube video. Because any video is funnier with "Yackity Sax".
And since I know somebody will ask, it works on the Monkey Dance, too.
December 16, 2008
We're home again, at last.
Actually, the power came on not quite 24 hours ago, but by the time we learned it was back, we were settled in for the night at the hotel. And it would've taken several hours for the house to warm back up from its sub-40-Fahrenheit temperature to a temperature at which…
